This invention relates to a welding apparatus for assembling a motorcar body. The component parts of the motorcar body, that is, a floor panel, a roof panel and a pair of right and leftside panels are positioned and welded together at a combining station having on both lateral outsides of the combining position, a pair of right and left welding jig units.
It has been usual hitherto with this type of welding apparatus that the component parts are set in order on a carrier and are connected together temporarily by tack welding. The carrier is then moved to the combining station and the temporarily connected component parts are welded together completely at that station. This type of apparatus, however, is inconvenient in that the working efficiency is low because the component parts are connected together temporarily before being welded together completely. Additionally, the apparatus is complicated because the temporary assembled component parts are required to be positioned before being welded together at the combining station.
This invention has for its object to provide an apparatus free from those inconveniences. The component parts of a motorcar body, that is, a floor panel, a roof panel and a pair of right and left-side panels are positioned and welded together at a combining station having, on both lateral outsides thereof, a pair of right and left welding jig units. The welding jig unit on each side is constructed to be movable laterally and is arranged to position and hold thereon the side panel on the corresponding side. A carrier is provided which is movable between the combining station in front and a setting station in rear, and is arranged to position and hold thereon the floor panel and the roof panel.